FEDERER’S TEARS OF JOY AFTER 20th SLAM WIN
Swiss legend sobs with joy as he beats Cilic to land his 20th Grand Slam crown
There will not be, surely, many more times when everything falls into place as perfectly as this for the extraordinary roger Federer.
The tears of joy he shed at the end of a 20th Grand Slam victory at the age of 36 always looked a likely outcome of this Australian Open final — from the moment it was deemed too hot and humid to play it as an outdoor match.
Marin Cilic was a more formidable opponent than in last year’s Wimbledon final and even forced a choke from the great Swiss in the fourth set, but ultimately Federer was good value for his 6-2, 6-7, 6-3, 3-6, 6-1 victory.
Cilic, not a demonstrative type, was clearly unhappy about the decision to keep the roof closed, having chosen to warm up outdoors on his usual court, unlike Federer.
Admitting that he did not protest, Cilic said: ‘They didn’t ask me. They just came to tell me that they are thinking about the decision and they are going to make the final decision slightly before the match.
‘I didn’t mind having the roof closed, but it was a huge difference in temperature from having outside 38 degrees, then when you came in, it was like 24. It was way cooler than I expected.
‘I lost my first two service games and was then catching up.’
Federer enjoys playing indoors, but even without that little bit of help there was not much evidence to suggest that Cilic — not usually averse to indoor play, either — would have beaten him.
Federer said: ‘I back myself in indoor conditions. I was surprised to hear that they had shut the roof for a night match. half an hour before, we got word that it was going to be indoors. For me it didn’t change anything — I was ready for it.’
So rafael Nadal has 10 French Open titles — the Decima — but to Federer the Vigésima. he moves, overall, four majors ahead of his Spanish rival and into territory occupied by the great female champions — with Margaret Court, Serena Williams and Steffi Graf the only others in the 20s. he has drawn level with Novak Djokovic on six Australian Open titles and has won three of the last five Grand Slams as he moves into the latter half of his 30s.
Inevitably his global army of fans — there is no such thing as an underdog getting extra support when it comes to playing Federer — will wonder how many more times he will return.
Similar questions might be asked of Nadal, Djokovic and Andy Murray, all of whom left here with injuries of varying severity. As the most healthy of the Big Four, this tournament was a great opportunity for Federer to add to his pile and he seized it gratefully.
It may also be a bit odd to wonder about the future of someone who is now just 155 points behind Nadal in the rankings, and who could overtake him by the beginning of March.
Sometimes it is the nerves that go first with age, but the record will show that it was Federer who just about managed to stiffen his resolve in the final set — as he had 12 months earlier against Nadal.
he admitted afterwards that it had not been easy during the most challenging moments, such as the tiebreak and when he led 3-1 in the fourth set.
‘I froze, I got really nervous, my mind was all over the place,’ said Federer. ‘During the match I constantly thought about the fact that I could reach 20. I was nervous the whole day, I thought about what would happen if I lost.
‘If I had got broken at the start of the fifth, there would have been no coming back from that.’
It almost beggars belief that there has been a 14-year span between his first Australian Open title and his sixth, won here yesterday.
Federer reflected: ‘It’s different emotions to the first one. When that happened it’s incredibly exciting and suddenly you are in the top three.
‘This one reminded me of 2006 when I beat Marcos Baghdatis here. I’d had a great run to the final and was just so relieved when I won in the same way I am again here. That’s why I could hardly speak afterwards.’
There was a high level of expectation, nominally increased by the roof being shut as a result of the second heatwave of the fortnight sweeping over the
Victorian capital. On this occasion the temperature was accompanied by a level of humidity that exceeded the threshold of the ‘wet bulb’ index.
Although the temperature fell just short of the stipulated 40C, referee Wayne McEwen exercised his ultimate discretion to keep the roof closed, as it had been for the preceding mixed doubles final.
Apart from anything, spectators who had paid hundreds of dollars per ticket would have been grateful.
At first it looked like they might not get too much for their money as Cilic struggled to find any range and was broken immediately in a set that lasted only 24 minutes.
To his credit, the Croat kept fighting and, finally zoning on his groundstrokes, drove on to the tiebreak and took it 7-4. That momentum continued into the third set, only for him to throw in a lousy service game. Before anyone knew it, Federer was motoring at 3-1 in the fourth.
That was when we saw Federer falter badly, as his previously dominant serve deserted him. Cilic’s big chance came when he had four break points at the start of the decider, but he pressed too hard on them and made a series of errors.
Two double faults in the next game sealed his fate and once Federer had broken he sprinted towards the finish.
It was not, in truth, the classic match of last year that ignited such an amazing season and restored the great Federer-Nadal hegemony, but the Swiss master will hardly care about that.